Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/286

 The

Vol. III.

No. 6.

Green

BOSTON.

Bag

June, 1891.

THADDEUS STEVENS. By Charles F. Hager, Jr. AS Philadelphians rejoice in the memory of Benjamin Franklin of Boston, and the citizens of Kentucky delight in the name of Henry Clay of Virginia, so the people of Pennsylvania honor and revere the name and reputation of Thaddeus Stevens of Ver mont. Coming from the Northeast, and betraying in the ruggedness of his counte nance and in the force and vigor of his intel lect all the marked characteristics of a sturdy New England parentage, he was neverthe less distinctively a Pennsylvanian. In her county courts as well as before her Supreme Bench, he won a distinguished reputation as a profound lawyer and shrewd practitioner during a professional career which covered half a century; and as the Representative from Lancaster County (which with a popu lation of over one hundred thousand inhabi tants, and an area of more than six hundred thousand acres of fertile agricultural soil, formed in itself a separate congressional district), he became the recognized leader of the most popular branch of the National Congress. Thaddeus Stevens was born on the 4th day of April, 1792, at Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont, of parents whose means and position were on a level with the com parative barrenness of the surrounding coun try. But little is known of his ancestry. His father enlisted in the United States ser vice in the War of 181 2, and lost his life in that conflict. He was therefore loyal, com ing from a section of the country which in those early days of the Republic was not in sympathy with the government or the war 34

in which it was engaged; and in after years this spark of loyalty in the father blazed into a greater brilliancy in the son. His mother was a woman of great energy and strong will. Upon her devolved the care of rearing her fatherless family; and it was largely by reason of her industry and efforts that young Stevens was enabled to enjoy the benefits of a collegiate education. She was amply repaid for her motherly care and sacrifice. Stevens never forgot the debt of gratitude he owed her. His continued love and reverence for her were among the few softer and mellower features of his stern and aggressive life. Having provided for her declining years with comfort and abun dance, he made this specific request in his will as a last act of filial care, — "That the sexton keep the grave in good order and repair, and plant roses and other cheerful flowers at each of the four corners of said grave each spring," and provided an annual fund to be used for that purpose. In the endowment of a charitable institution for the benefit of a religious denomination of which she was an earnest and active member, he pays this beautiful tribute to her worth : " I do this out of respect to the memory of my mother, to whom I owe whatever little of prosperity I have had on earth, which, small as it is, I desire emphatically to acknowledge." It was from his mother, therefore, that he derived the fearless spirit and fixity of pur pose which were the chief forces in his character that insured his success in politics and at the bar. Graduating at Dartmouth College in 1815,